Programs like Utah's Baby Your Baby aren't supposed to be a free pass for everyone to prenatal care.

The "presumptive eligibility" program has streamlined applications that ask women to simply state their monthly income and status as a citizen or legal resident. The goal is to get poor, pregnant women to see a doctor early in their pregnancies, while they wait up to two months for their Medicaid applications to be vetted, says a national family advocate.

At least 26 states began offering such "presumptive" benefits after Congress approved them in 1986, recognizing the power of early prenatal care to reduce birth defects, infant mortality and expensive health complications for mothers and their babies.

"Studies show pretty consistently that every dollar spent on prenatal care yields between $1.70 and $3.38 in savings," said Joe Theissen, a policy analyst and vice president at Voices for America's Children.

A Medicaid fraud case in Utah, however, alleges the state's program has been abused by undocumented immigrants who lie about their citizenship in order to get the benefits — then sidestep the usual screening.

Women who qualify for Baby Your Baby should also qualify for Medicaid, which then covers their delivery.

But authorities allege that many of the Baby Your Baby patients at the now-defunct WestView Women's Clinic in West Valley City jumped from that program to deliver under Emergency Medicaid instead, which is open to non-citizens.

Recognizing the importance of early prenatal care, some states have debated funding programs specifically for illegal immigrants, Theissen said.

"Whatever the immigration status of the mother, the child is a U.S. citizen entitled to [programs like Medicaid]," he said.

When mothers miss out on prenatal care and their children are born with developmental disabilities or problems that require expensive stays in newborn intensive care, states pay the bill, he said.